Sources: Arrest in Olympic bombing could occur within days

July 27, 1996
Web posted at: 7:45 p.m. EDT

ATLANTA (CNN) -- Investigators are making progress in
their search for suspects in the bombing early
Saturday in Centennial Olympic Park that killed one
person and injured more than 100. In fact, sources
told CNN, there could be an arrest within days.

Underground Atlanta, a popular shopping mall and tourist attraction not far from Centennial Park, was evacuated after a suspicious package was found outside a restaurant in the complex. A bomb disposal squad was on the scene and authorities were using a remote-control robot to investigate the package while police kept people at a distance. It turned out to be an iron with a cord and thermometer wrapped around it -- quite harmless, after all.

Sources say focus of Park bombing on domestic terrorism

The sources said the focus of the Centennial Park bombing is on domestic terror -- either, in their words, a "nutcase," or someone with a
possible militia connection.

Investigators say they have a lot of material to work with.
At least one of the three pipe bombs that were taped together
to cause the explosion is intact. In addition, there was a
timing device that may help link the bomb to its makers. The
device used is said to be more sophisticated than was at
first believed.

CNN has learned that investigators have a number of
videotapes and snapshots and are studying pictures from
surveillance cameras that ring the park.

Among the other promising leads: An eyewitness who saw
four white men dressed in black. They were reportedly
acting rowdy and drawing attention to themselves.

In the days before the bombing, federal officials told CNN
that a group of skinheads with a reputation for violence was
being monitored. Officials now say that is one of the leads
being pursued.

Other evidence includes the 911 tape from the warning call
made shortly before the explosion. Officials said the caller
appeared to be a "white male with an indistinguishable
(American) accent" and did not claim to speak for any group.

The FBI asks anyone who has information about the bombing to call 1-800-905-1514.

Olympic events will go on

Saturday's events of the Olympic Games "will go on," said
Francois Carrard, director general of the International
Olympic Committee. (254K AIFF or WAV sound)

"As I speak now, everything is ready," he said. There was no
word on when Centennial Olympic Park would reopen, but
authorities said it would be no earlier than Sunday.

The IOC and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games said
that all Olympic flags would be flown at half staff during
events Saturday, and that all venues would observe a moment
of silence in the memory of the bomb's victims. In addition,
the Turkish flag will fly at half staff in memory of
cameraman Melih Uzunyol, who suffered a heart attack while
covering the explosion and died en route to the hospital.

Bomb went off 23 minutes after call

Tom Davis of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told
reporters Saturday that the explosion occurred about 23
minutes after the warning call.

"After we did an assessment of the situation, the explosion
occurred -- just a powerful tremendous explosion. I do not
know how to explain it other than that," Davis said.

Davis said he noticed a package at the park after he was
summoned there by a security guard for AT&T who was concerned
about some drunk revelers in front of AT&T Tower.

"I noticed that the (drunk) individuals had moved on," Davis
said. "He (the AT&T security guard) pointed to a package
under a bench in front of the tower and told me that one of
them must have left it there."

Davis said he told the guard that they would try to find the
package's owner, and if they failed to do so, would treat the
parcel as a suspicious package. "And that is what we did," he
said.

FBI Agent Woody Johnson gave a similar account of what
happened before the bombing.

Johnson said that a police officer called to investigate an "unruly" segment of the audience attending a late night concert at the AT&T Global Village stage, "noticed a suspicious package."

The officer called for bomb investigators, who began to
evacuate the area.

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"Before they were able to completely clear the area, the
device went off," Johnson said.

Mark Smith, an audio technician working in a tower where
engineers control concert sound, told CNN that the suspicious
package was discovered leaning against the tower by an AT&T
security guard.

"He didn't like the way it looked, and informed the police,"
Smith said. "They didn't like the way it looked either, and
cleared the area."

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Smith said that policeman near the explosion point appeared
to be the worst injured. He praised the quick action of
security and police personnel, saying that they very likely
kept the number and severity of injuries at a minimum.

Park is vulnerable to attack

The 21-acre (8.5 hectare) Centennial Olympic Park, ringed by
the pavilions of several
Olympic sponsors, is packed daily with visitors making their
way to nearby venues as well as Atlanta residents taking in
the Olympic experience. It has been the site of nightly
concerts.

Officials said that the open facility caused concern about
security, but that the site was considered important to the
spirit of the games. A.D. Frazier, chief operating officer
of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, said the
bombing would not change that.

"I don't think there's any act, however heinous, that
could destroy these Olympic Games," he said.

Johnson said that the FBI has now cordoned off the
park. The park will reopen, at least in part, when the
investigation is complete.

Johnson also said that the FBI had no information on other
explosive devices, but gave Olympic venues a thorough
inspection before Saturday's events began.

"We will consider (the bombing) an act of terrorism until we
have information to the contrary," he said. (191K AIFF or WAV sound)

The bombing, Atlanta Mayor Bill
Campbell said on CNN, "cast a
long shadow over these Games and this city, which had been so
joyous." Campbell added that Centennial Park would be
reopened when investigators had finished their inspection of
the area. (96K AIFF or WAV sound)

Campbell lauded the "phenomenal response" of law enforcement
in the park to the crisis, saying that as bad as the
situation was, "it could have been much worse." (224K AIFF or WAV sound)

Security combed the area around the park early Saturday,
looking for evidence. Police also inspected tracks and
stations of
Atlanta's public transportation system, but MARTA trains were
still running.

Law
enforcement agents told CNN there were nails, shrapnel and
pieces
of wood strewn all over the scene. But one official said the
situation
was "not as bad as you would expect, because the explosive
device was very crude."

The pieces of the bomb have been sent to a state law
enforcement lab for examination.

Police also are developing film from tourists and cameramen
on the scene in the search for possible suspects and leads.
At the same time agents with the FBI, Georgia Bureau of
Investigation and Atlanta police are interviewing possible
witnesses from the park.

One law enforcement source told CNN that some of those
witnesses are "generating leads."

Witnesses initially thought it was part of show

The rock band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack had just
finished a song when the bomb went off, about 1:25 a.m. EDT.

"It felt like a concussion mortar, as we call it in the
business," said audio technician Smith.

Robert Gee, a visitor from San Francisco, video-taped the
explosion -- a ground-shaking boom, a bright flash, and a
poof of smoke that stretched above the 40-foot sound tower
next to it.

Witnesses near the explosion site dove to the ground and ran
for cover, while those farther away stood bewildered until
police began to evacuate the park. Most of those injured were
hit by flying shrapnel.

The victim who died at the scene of the bombing was 44-year-
old tourist Alice Jane Hawthorne of Albany, Georgia, according to family
members. Relatives said she apparently had massive head
injuries from the explosion. Hawthorne's young
daughter, believed to be about 7 years old, was injured.

"Some people looked really messed up," said Desmond Edwards
of Atlanta. "There were rivers of blood."

A German film crew was interviewing U.S. swimmer Janet Evans
at the time of the explosion. Video of that interrupted
interview shows Evans and the German interviewer scrambling
for safety.

CNN producer Jim Bacon said he heard a "tremendous boom" and
everybody "hit the deck."

Security and police personnel were quickly on the scene, and
ambulances arrived to transport the wounded to five area
hospitals. The status of the injured ranged from very serious
to very minor.

The Red Cross has set up a hotline for family members looking
for information. That number is 404-685-8285.

Games will go on

Both Atlanta and International Olympic officials said that
the games will go on as planned Saturday, although security
would be upgraded at all venues. Athletes have been briefed
on the situation, and most appeared ready to get back to the
competition.

Swimmer Evans said that she thought security was better in
Atlanta than it had been in her previous three Olympics.

But one member of the U.S. men's basketball "Dream Team" was
seen with packed bags and carrying two small children shortly
after the explosion. Karl Malone told a reporter he was
leaving the city, but Craig Miller of USA Basketball said
that Malone was only getting his family out of the downtown
hotel where they were staying.

Several athletes from Cuba and Argentina were reported to be
in the park at the time of the explosion, but none have been
reported among the injured.